I rescued a 2 year old male GCC named Baby a few months ago, but I am still having issues with him biting. I think the main issue is that I don't trust him anymore, he has bit me on the neck before (no longer allowed on shoulder) he has bit me on the hand.....and when I say bite, I mean he bites and doesn't let go. I have learned to push into the bite to get him to let go or stop. But I don't trust him anymore and for some reason let my fear take over. I have been working with him with wooden perches (he was completely petrified of them at first) I don't know if the previous owners hit him with them or what. But he will step up on the perches and for now that is how I transfer him.

I guess my biggest issue is how do I get over the fear to try to use my hand instead of the perches again????

I feel your pain. I go through the same thing with my Mitred Conure, Danny. He has literally left welts on me from his bites. My husband earned Danny's trust by just letting him bite the crap out of him and not even flinching or acting like it hurt. Eventually Danny quit biting him and trusts him, as Evan now trusts Danny. I know that is what I need to do also but it hard for me not to be scared of his bites (that I know are coming anytime I try and get him to step up). Sorry I have no real advice as I am struggling with the same thing. Hopefully someone comes along shortly with some help for us both.

Actually you have helped by letting me know I am not alone, and we have similar situations, my hubby has gained the trust of Baby and can do almost anything with him. But my fear still gets in the way for us.

This speaks volumes. At two years old, Baby is no longer a baby. Puberty is probably at work here, possibly some hormones. It would appear that for whatever reason, your hubby has become the "chosen one". That, combined with your fear (oh yes, you'd better believe they can sense that!) means that you're going to have to work hard for a relationship, and you should realize that your relationship with Baby may never be the same as what your husband enjoys. That doesn't mean that you can't get along, and eventually you might get beyond that, but you may have to settle for what you can get for now.

You're on the right track with using the perch, I'd recommend you keep using it until you have some reason to believe that Baby is going to behave well. The longer you can go without him biting you the better, because it can quickly become habit and tradition for him. And, the longer you go without getting bitten, the more your confidence will build. It may also be better if you don't attempt to handle Baby when your husband is in sight. Also, you should be the only one to dispense favorite treats for a while.

Use all your senses to observe Baby, and learn to read his body language and emotions. GCC's are known for a feisty temperament. I have a great relationship with Quito, and I love her dearly, but realistically, she's never going to be snuggly and cuddly, and most of the time she could care less about getting petted. That's not to say she doesn't love attention, she does, and she loves to be with me, she's just not wild about being touched a lot. I'm careful to read her mood, and there are times she just loves a pat or a scritch. Usually a quick one though, and any more is going to result in a healthy nip. I've found learning to avoid the bite to be a really satisfying experience, much more so than learning how to not react to being bitten!

Hang in there!

Thankyou, I am trying my best right now, and in fact I have already been the ONLY one to do all the "good" stuff for Baby. I am the one that gives food and water, and cleans the cage, I am the only one for the time being allowed to give Baby treats. And I have also been the only one to take him out of the cage.

Last night I had him out of the cage sitting on a perch in my hand and sat down on the couch with him there for a couple min. then I put him on the play stand, and gave him a sunflower seed for being good. When I got him he was on an almost ALL sunflower seed diet, so I cut those completely out of his food, and now use them as treats, and that is one way I got him half way comfortable with the perches, giving him treats for going close to the perch and vice versa. Unfortunately my hubby is NOT a bird person and Baby is the only fid he kinda likes, but has been disappointed lately since he hasn't been messing with him so that me and Baby could bond, Baby hasn't been so willing to be petted by him either.

So at times I feel like I'm fighting 2 battles. I am going to try my darndest though, and I have talked to a breeder that would be a little drive for me, that if I just can't get anywhere with the "situation" she is going to take Baby and try to pair him up with one of her other GCC's and would give me a baby GCC. But that is ONLY a last means choice for me. And I made sure that Baby would be going to someone with experience and that he would NEVER be rehomed again. As I said though, that is only a LAST resort.

The GCC issues... it's funny to see that these issues often arise with GCCs. They are known to be nippy and feisty, but unfortunately they sometimes hide it well....

Sorry I didn't respond earlier - I wanted to make sure I have plenty of time to write all my thoughts down as I have plenty

Valo is a GCC in its fullest - and believe it or not, we have the same problems as you do. Valo loves me to death, and surprisingly he's probably the snuggliest GCC I've come across... he loves kisses and pets and is all over me.
However, he hates everybody else - in different levels going from absolutely established disgust for one of my best friends, to mild levels of hate tolerating the person in the room but not wanting to be touched. My long-distance BF falls into this category.
That being said, as Nate pointed it out - there is a possibility that you'll never be able to extensively handle Baby. But I'd recommend working on it continously as it might improve over time. The key to everything is patience.

I'll go through a few things - some of them reflect my opinion based on living with a GCC and reading tons of books on behavioral issues; others are based on conversations I've had with other people, one of them being Julie Murad.

*) Julie Murad recommended a mild wing clip to limit the birds flexibility and make him more dependent on you while establishing trust. I personally am completely against it as it merely alters the outcome, creates frustration IMO and does NOT solve the problem. Nevertheless, I thought I'd mention it.

*) I agree with Nate on the body language... watch Baby carefully before even thinking about bringing your hand close. GCC are feisty and all, but they don't hide their emotions very well which is a good think in this case. Fluffy feathers around the neck - do not touch. Leaning forward to jump - establish some more distance. Running with open beak towards the hand - well, that one doesn't need an explanation.

*) Try to see things from Baby's view - sounds trivial, I find it being the most important and most difficult thing to do after reading all those books. A lot of situations that lead to aggression are the direct result of US wanting the bird to do something that WE want him to do and which unfortunately has NOTHING to do with what the bird wants. Lots of nips result from us wanting the baby to sit there on the perch, while he wants to play etc...

*) Spend time just sitting next to Baby's cage, talking and singing. He'll show interest and check you out... when he does and does not display aggressive body language reward with a treat. This might sound like a lot of treats, but you can cut back as time goes on. We've had success with Valo using this strategy within a few days - BF was able to have him perch on the hand without getting chewed to pieces.

*) Have hubby stay out of the room whenever you're planning on handling Baby. You're already doing the right thing with being the one who does the positive parts of everyday life. Keep it that way.

*) Now I do have to ask - are Baby's wings clipped? The reason I'm asking is because often a change of environment helps a ton. Valo sees my apartment as HIS house (in which I'm allowed to live). He's a lot better in a different environment, aka when I go visit BF. Try to bring Baby into different surroundings when you're planning on working with him.

*) Try step-up training. First on a stick, and reward with treats... for this it'd be great if you could find something smaller than sunflower seeds. Valo loves those birdie bananas you can find at pet stores, and they can be broken into really small pieces which makes all this a little less "treat-heavy". Show him the treat as he steps up onto the stick - it'll keep his attention focused on the treat more than on the stick. After this works well, you can try to replace the stick with your finger. Make sure to return him to the perch before he gets bored on your finger and decides to entertain himself by nipping you.

I leave it with that for now... please, let us know if you have any more questions. It's easier for me to answer detailed rather than broadly.
I'd absolutely recommend reading "The Parrot Problem Sover" by Barbara Heidenreich - it won't solve your problems right away, but it enables you to see a lot of things that are often overlooked.

Best of luck - GCCs are great little birds, but sometimes they definitely try to see how far they can go.

I really appreciate your info, I even printed it off. I have actually only been working with Baby when my husband was around, because if anything happened I figured my husband could save me LOL.

As far as being flighted goes..........yes Baby is flighted and I know some people are against this, and honestly I usually do clip for training purposes but Baby RARELY flies. You can see he WANTS to fly but is afraid to. When he actually gets scared enough by something he will fly but that is about the only time, and even then he is looking for one of us to lift our hands up for him to land on. It makes me think that his wings were clipped before he actually learned how to fly.

Now as far as the getting close to the cage part, I think I can skip that part, the reason I say this is because when I go up to his cage, he comes right to me and will let me give him head skritches through the cage bars. He will push his head up against the bars if I put my finger up, to give head skritches, and he will take sunflower seed from my fingers without a problem whether in or out of the cage.

Once again I thank you very much for the info and I will check into that book, and try to find a smaller treat (I just know he will do anything for a sunflower seed) and do what you advised me to and keep you updated. And if you have any more advice or tips on the info I just added, I will be checking back regularly.

We have a Sun Conure, Scarlet, who is a little dickens. She has been with us for about 2 years and I'm still struggling to "get in good" with this little girl (or maybe a boy, who knows)
She loves hubby, and now she doesn't love hubby. Last week she was in love with Shane (Glider) - who know what this week will bring.
Anyway, she has done exactly what your bird has done. Hands, fingers and neck - boy did the neck hurt.
I wrap a dish towel around my hand, and she will readily come out of the cage onto the dish towel, biting the heck out of it. I let her chew for a couple of seconds, and then tell her to stop, which she does. The I go into the kitchen with her, and sit her on a bath towel which is on my lap. I have been able to pet her head and back with gentle strokes recently, but that is all the progress I have made with her. Maybe she doesn't hate me anymore, who knows, I will have to wait and see what she feels like tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, maybe the next day she will like me. But, that is our relationship, and even though she is biting the crap out of the towel, she does like to come out, and now, when I'm petting her, she does push up against my hand, so tiny little baby steps over two years. Who knows if I will ever have a good relationship with her, but that is the way it is today, and we will keep working on it.

I think you are exactly right, what you're seeing with his biting behavior is a bird who doesn't realize yet that he can avoid contact he doesn't want by flying, he thinks his only recourse is to bite. IMO this is a major factor with birds who were never allowed to fledge. If so, you may see some improvement as his confidence in his wings grows. The fact that he's looking for you to lift a hand up for him to land on is wonderful, make use of any sign that he's looking to you for comfort or "rescue".

That's good! You're more than halfway there! Quito and I get along great, but 75 percent of the time, if I try to scritch her through the bars, I get the beak. I have to watch her mood real carefully. Perhaps some of what you're seeing is due to him being cagebound for so long, he's still insecure about being out of it?

I honestly think you're doing a lot better than you think you are. Keep the intimate contact short in duration, as Bee and I have both said, it seems that GCC's just can't take a whole lot of lovin' at once.

I wish I had more advice for you as far as your lack of trust/fear towards him. I understand it perfectly, I'm working through issues with a really crotchety Amazon right now and believe me, I'm finding it really hard to appear confident, trusting and unafraid with him. He's got a beak that could snap the head off a GCC, and he ain't afraid to use it. Somehow you have to find it in yourself to slow yourself down and control your thoughts and reactions when you're with him, while still remaining watchful. I imagine we're both going to take some more bites before all is said and done. I'm relearning the meaning of patience.

I don't think he is cage bound at all, he will come out of the cage every opportunity we give him. Even if we just open the door and walk away he will crawl out and climb to the top of his cage and keep looking at us like "come get me" in fid language of course.

And this is probably gonna sound weird, atleast it does to me....when giving skritches through cage bars, sometime he will give me his beak, but it isn't to bite, he likes to have his beak petted. I'm telling you he can be goofy lol.

And for some reason it never dawned on me with him biting because he is afraid to fly away from situations he doesn't like. Thank you for that.

Once again I appreciate ALL the help, by all means keep it coming.